Table 3.
Attitudes Regarding Pap Smear/Pelvic Exam: Percentage of Physicians Ranking Highest Scores (5 or 6) for Each Item (1 = Strongly Disagree; 6 = Strongly Agree)*
| GIM | FP | |
|---|---|---|
| Priority and importance | ||
| It is the primary care provider's responsibility to perform routine Pap smears. | 90 | 99 |
| My patients tend to have so many other medical problems that a routine pelvic exam is low on the list of priorities. | 13 | 4 |
| I wish I could skip the pelvic exam. | 17 | 5 |
| Performing routine Pap smears is a good use of my time. | 65 | 84 |
| Routine Pap smears are an important part of female preventive health services. | 98 | 99† |
| It is a waste of health care dollars for primary care physicians to refer patients to gynecologists for routine Pap smears. | 69 | 90 |
| Training | ||
| I feel very well trained to do a routine Pap smear. | 86 | 99 |
| I feel very well trained to do a routine bimanual exam. | 71 | 98 |
| By the completion of my residency, I had performed enough pelvic exams under supervision to feel confident doing them. | 49 | 90 |
| Confidence | ||
| I am confident I can obtain a sufficient endocervical sample most of the time when I do a Pap smear. | 88 | 97 |
| I worry that I may be missing important findings when I do a pelvic exam. | 15 | 9‡ |
| I know female anatomy well enough to detect common abnormalities on a pelvic exam. | 66 | 96 |
| I can reliably determine which abnormal Pap smear results need to be referred to a gynecologist. | 73 | 96 |
| Gender and discipline | ||
| Women prefer female physicians to perform their pelvic exam. | 45 | 33 |
| Female physicians are better at doing pelvic exams because they are more aware of patient concerns. | 20 | 9 |
| Most of my patients prefer to get their routine Pap smears done by a gynecologist. | 13 | 4 |
| Facilities | ||
| The clinic where I practice is well equipped to do a Pap smear. | 78 | 94 |
| My clinic has ample nursing staff available to assist me in obtaining a Pap smear. | 64 | 75 |
| I usually schedule a separate office visit to obtain a routine Pap smear. | 18 | 36 |
*
P < .001 unless noted otherwise; P values were calculated using Fisher's Exact test.
†
P, not significant.
‡
P = .025.
GIM, general internal medicine; FP, family practice.